Retos políticos en la lucha contra las drogas

Dale states th a t th e re m ay b e m any views ab o u t w h a t ed u catio nal policy activity m ig h t seek to b rin g ab o u t b u t posits th a t only th o se m a tte rs arising

from th e th re e d o m in a n t p ro b lem s o f th e s ta te ’s re latio n sh ip w ith th e ed u catio n system h a s any chance o f being im plem en ted :

• th e n e ed to su p p o rt th e capital accu m u latio n process; • th e n e ed to g u a ra n te e a context for its c o n tin u e d expansion;

• th e n e e d to leg itim ate th e cap italist m o de o f p ro d u c tio n including th e sta te ’s ow n p a rt in it.

He co n tex tu alises his asse rtio n by sta tin g th a t an y cap italist sta te is co n fro n ted by th e se sam e basic p ro b lem s w hich derive fro m its relationship w ith capitalism (D ale 1991:9).

Ozga co n sid ers th a t g o v ern m en t’s n eed to su p p o rt th e cap ital accum ulation process is a fu n d a m e n ta l ten sio n in th e relatio n sh ip b etw een g o v ern m en t an d teachers. In h e r view th e use of ed u catio n in g o v ern m en tal m anpow er p lan n in g is so m eth in g to be resisted by te ac h e rs a n d believes th a t policy initiatives m u s t alw ays be exam ined a n d w here n ecessary challenged. She sees te ac h e rs’ capacity to research policy o f p a rtic u la r im p o rtan c e in th is endeavour (Ozga, 2 0 0 0 :2 -1 2 ).

C olebatch in seeking to ad d ress th e q u estion ‘w here do policy initiatives come fro m ’ h as a sim ilar p o in t to m ake as Dale a b o u t p ersisten ce o f som e policy agendas. H e argues th a t a featu re o f policy activity is th a t th e sam e problem s surface again a n d again. F req u en tly th o se involved, a n d th e approaches adopted, are d ifferen t (Colebatch, 2 0 0 2 : 27). Such a scen ario has already b een p o in te d to in th is study, in C hapter 2 w here a review o f h ig her education policy since th e m id d le o f th e 1990s reveals re p e a te d a tte m p ts by th e

g o v ern m en t to im p le m e n t vocational tra in in g th ro u g h h ig h e r education, w ith only p a rtia l success.

C allaghan’s 1976 R uskin College speech exem plifies th e p o in ts m ade by th e above w rite rs a n d can b e id en tified as th e p o in t a t w hich th e sta te so ught to estab lish u n equivocally th e te rm s o f its re la tio n sh ip w ith h ig h e r ed ucatio n a n d a co n sen su s a b o u t ed u catio n s alig n m en t w ith econom ic objectives. W hilst th e a rg u m e n t w as b ro a d ly b a se d in 1976, as th is c h a p te r show s, th e re h as been accelerating a n d increasing ly focused policy activity g e n e ra te d since th a t tim e, well aligned to th e agen das w hich Dale arg u es a re th e p rim a ry concerns o f th e s ta te ’s re la tio n sh ip w ith h ig h er education.

W hilst th e above discussion has focussed on w h a t issues reach th e policy agenda, a n u m b e r o f research ers have b een in te re ste d in h o w issues reach th e agenda. A nd in p a rtic u la r how th ey fin d sh ap e a n d expression. In th e a rea of in te rn a tio n a l d ev elo p m en t studies, dev elo p m en t d isco urses are offered as one ex p lan atio n as to ho w issues com e to be sh ap e d a n d even tu ally arrive on th e political ag en d a (S utto n , 1999:11-12, Roe, 1991:287-297). Social sciences lite ra tu re to o offers a co m m en tary on discourse d evelopm ent. This posits th a t d iscourses serve to coalesce a group of ideas, co n cep ts a n d explanatory accounts. They give m eaning to a specific p h e n o m en o n . They serve to sim plify situ atio n s a n d in so doing, also filter m eaning. They can sh ap e a n d define an issue in a p a rtic u la r way an d lin k it w ith o th e r p re v a len t ideas, concerns an d discourses. In th is process, th ey can privilege th e in te re sts o f one faction over a n o th e r a n d m arg in alise altern ativ e views a n d in te rp re ta tio n s. They legitim ise ways o f sp eak in g a n d th in k in g ab o u t a p a rtic u la r m a tte r. These discourses

p re se n t an issu e in seem ingly n eu tral, ratio n a l a n d apolitical te rm s w hilst obscuring political u n d e rp in n in g , a n d by so doing m ak e altern ative views ap p ea r irra tio n a l a n d illogical (Foucault, 1972:8; Shore a n d W right, 1997: 3- 34; C arabine, 2 0 0 1:6 8 ).

The m ed ia are increasin g ly view ed as having a role w ith in th e developm ent of discourses a n d in p u sh in g issues up th e political agenda. F or exam ple, th e ir influence can b e seen in th e w ay a p a rtic u la r policy p ro b le m is p re se n te d an d re p o rte d u p o n , th e p a rtic u la r im age p u t forw ard, th e selectio n o f som e aspects a n d th e eliding o f o th e r m ore com plex aspects. ‘A genda se ttin g ’ is th e term given to describ in g th e ability o f th e m ed ia to tell th e p u b lic w h a t issues are im p o rtan t. D earing a n d Rogers in th e ir in flu en tial b o o k A genda Setting took as its p o in t o f d e p artu re , th e q u estio n as to w hy som e issues receive m ore p ublic a tte n tio n th a n o th ers a n d claim th a t issues reach in g th e a tte n tio n of decision m ak ers do so on basis o f a social c o n stru ctio n o f reality w hereby perceptio n s co u n t a t least as m uch as reality (D earing a n d Rogers, 1996). M cCom bs a n d R eynolds in th e ir research a b o u t political socialisation state th a t “estab lish in g salience am ong th e public so th a t a n issue becom es th e focus o f pu b lic a tte n tio n , th o u g h t a n d p e rh a p s even action is th e in itial stage in th e fo rm atio n o f public opinion (M cCombs a n d R eynolds, 2002:1). Kiousis et al also fo u n d evidence fo r placing agenda settin g w ith in th e b ro a d e r process of political socialisation a n d argue th a t th e re la tio n sh ip a n d th e im p act of ag en d a settin g on public opinion req u ires fu rth e r study. (Kiousis et al, 2005:

In resp ect o f th e la st p o in ts ab o u t d evelopm ent d isco u rses a n d th e pow er of th e m ed ia p o w er to p re s e n t p a rtic u la r im ages a n d co n stru ctio n s to th e public, I m ake th e p o in t in th is c h ap te r th a t a specific academ ic sta n d a rd s discourse em erged in th e seco n d h a lf o f th e 1990s, w hich sh a p e d public p erception ab o u t th e q u ality a n d s ta n d a rd s o f degree courses, co n ce n tra tin g u p o n and sim plifying selectively certain issues to fo rm a p a rtic u la r im age o f th o se issues, to lead to a specific a n d co n stru cte d public p ercep tio n .

Once an issu e h a s re a ch e d th e political ag en d a th e n typically, policy will be g enerated. T he follow ing section exam ines th e p ro cesses by w hich th a t is enacted.